In 1992, Jeff Lumsden of Everette, Washington accomplished something only a handful of artists can claim, when he was awarded the coveted Judges’ Choice Best of Show at the World Taxidermy Championships with a beautiful chum salmon, winning him TWO gold Akeley medallions. Jeff has been one of the leading fish taxidermists of our day, not only winning top awards but also developing innovative product lines like Polytranspar™ Liquid Scales, Steelhead Mannikins and Still Life Lenses. But even before that, way back in the 1980’s, Jeff had been a successful taxidermist and published his paint schedules in Tim Kelly’s American Taxidermist Magazine. After American Taxidermist ceased publication, this decade-old golden trout paint schedule was re-published by WASCO in North American Taxidermy News in 2001. Now, here it it 13 years later, and I wanted to present Jeff’s nearly 30-year-old paint schedule one more time, and allow today’s artists to take advantage of his innovative paining techniques. Continue reading “Golden Trout Paint Schedule”

In the last decade of the last century, the internet transformed from total obscurity into the leading informational tool on the planet. In the 1990’s, as the world wide web was in its infancy, most web sites were based upon business cards or brochures; simply on-line flyers with basic information for prospective customers. Unlike the twenty-first century, where the internet beaome the leading communication tool, early web pages for taxidermy were quaint examples of one-way broadcasting in an emerging technology.

Does it seem like its only been 20 years since the internet took off? I remember getting the free AOL floppy discs in the mail and plugging them into my home computer, setting up the modem, connecting to the phone line, and warning all family members not to pick up the phone as I connected to this fledgling internet at ridiculously high per-minute rates. Once I was actually on-line, the first thing I did was to search (through the Alta Vista search engine, as there was no Google in existance yet) for anything to do with “taxidermy”. There were only three matches! Today, there are over 12 million results for the same search. Continue reading “Taxidermy Online: The Early Years”

One of the biggest problems caused by taxidermy clients is mishandling of specimens in the field, including sportsmen who make improper cuts on antlered game. For decades, taxidermists have tried to educate their customers on the importance of proper field care. Toward this end, they have printed instruction sheets, brochures, field care diagrams on business cards, and large signs in their showrooms. With the proliferation of the internet, now it seems that almost every taxidermy studio website also has a web page devoted to field care with text instructions and diagrams. But even with all of this information readily available, inevitable each year at least one hunter will bring in a trophy with the skin cut too short to produce a quality mount.

Based upon the success of the Deer Display Options video with Nickie Carter, McKenzie decided that it would be helpful to taxidermists to produce a short but comprehensive field care video specifically designed for taxidermists to easily embed into their web sites. This video would provide not only the critical information about field care, but an actual live demonstration of the skinning process.

Acclaimed Taxidermists Nickie and Rick Carter were chosen to demonstrate the importance of proper field care in obtaining the best quality taxidermy. The video is geared toward sportsmen as a useful informational tool provided by taxidermy studios. Adding this free video to your taxidermy website will add credibility to your shop, it will inform and educate your customer base, and it will help ensure that the specimens you receive are in optimum condition for quality taxidermy.

As you know, the path to quality taxidermy begins the moment a trophy hits the ground. In the video below, Nickie and Rick will offer some tips on field care and skinning that hunters will need to follow in order to take their deer to their taxidermist and provide them with everything they need to produce a beautiful trophy mount.

When you are checking in mounts during hunting season, you could have this video set up to play on an iPad or streaming on your computer screen in your showroom while customers wait. Even though the video is demonstrating with a whitetail deer, these same procedures could be used for an elk, antelope, mule deer, or any other antlered game.

Instructions for Embedding Into YOUR Web Site:

It is easy to place this video right into your web site. It only take a minute or two. You can place it on your home page, or any interior page of your site. Simply copy one of the three blocks of code below and paste it in your website where you would like the video to appear. The video player will look like it is part of your website and your visitors will be impressed with the professionalism that it adds to your site. Three sizes of display are listed below. Choose the size that best fits your web site design.

Copy this code for a medium-sized video player for most websites:

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/84806632" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>


Copy this code for a small-sized video player if space is a problem:

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/84806632" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>


Copy and use this code for a large-sized video player if you have the room:

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/84806632" width="960" height="539" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>


The Video:

Below is the complete video for you to watch. It is only four and one-half minutes in length, which is just long enough to provide the essential information. Here it is presented in the large embedded version:

Taxidermists should take every advantage they can to provide additional service and education to their customers. By adding this free video to your taxidermy website, it will add credibility to your shop, it will inform and educate your customer base, and it will help you by eliminating problems repairing improper cuts on capes and spoilage problems caused by poor field care.

McKenzie Field Care Print Instructions:

McKenzie also has a complete field care guide available on their web site for printing from your computer, which includes instructions for handling small game, birds and fish in addition to large game.

For this print version of field care instructions, you can go to McKenzie’s web site at http://www.mckenziesp.com/KB/HTML%20KB/Trophy_care/trophy_care.asp for their Trophy Field Care Guide.

Edward J. Piaskowski, 77, of Jackson Township in Ohio, passed away Thursday, August 7, 2014. Universally liked and respected by his peers, Ed was the embodiment of a gentleman. He was a rare combination of extreme talent, yet humble to a fault. Ed was born on April 6, 1937 in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the son of Enoch and Nellie (Borcufsky) Piaskowski. He was a devout Catholic. Ed retired from Babcock & Wilcox where he was an engineer for over 40 years and received the “Engineering Honors Award”. Ed enjoyed playing clarinet and saxophone in many different bands in Pennsylvania and Ohio. He was a member of the Ohio Taxidermist Association and the National Taxidermists Association, he won the Best in World Whitetail Deer award at the World Taxidermy Championships® in 2009. His hobbies included taxidermy, fishing, hunting and spending time with his family. Continue reading “Ed Piaskowski Whitetail Gallery”

Last week in Springdale, Arkansas, the National Taxidermists Association met for the 43rd time to hold their annual convention and competition. For many of those conventions, I have had the privilege to serve as the show photographer which allowed me close access to see every mount. During the awards banquet, we project photos of the winning entries on the big screen as the winners are announced.

Continue reading “NTA 2014 Major Award Winners”